CA Students Educate Community on a Year of War in Ukraine

On February 24, Concord Academy gathered to reflect on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. History teacher Ed Rafferty and students Nathan Rothschild ’23 and Andrii Vedmid ’26 presented about the roots of the ongoing war and how the CA community can support those who have been most affected.

“For many of you, today is relatively insignificant,” Nathan said. “However, for Andrii and I, along with over 44 million Ukrainians, today is a day that we dread the existence of, yet one that we celebrate our unity and freedom on.”

Russia and Ukraine have a deep and complex history, the presenters shared, tracing the current invasion, which began on February 24, 2022, back nine years to the Russian invasion of Crimea and the Donbas in 2014. “In those nine years, the Ukrainian military has undergone a complete reformation, becoming the powerful fighting force it is today,” Nathan said.

The assembly provided historical context about the political and military tactics employed over the past year, including Russia’s justification of the invasion, its full-scale military assault that began last February, its failure to capture the Ukrainian capital, and subsequent missile attacks on cities of Kyiv, Lviv, and Mariupol. Nathan and Andrii shared film clips of what Mariupol—a city with a population of 500,000, not much smaller than Boston—looked like before and after the Russian invasion. The videos showed a once lively city transformed into a desolate wasteland.

The students then chronicled the third and current phase of the war, which began in the fall of 2022 with a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the northern Kharkiv and southern Kherson regions. The war continues today as Ukrainian defenders fight to maintain control of the city of Bakhmut.

Nathan and Andrii shared ways the Concord Academy Community can help, including donating to organizations that are aiding defense and demining, providing medical care, and rebuilding Ukraine. They urged continued awareness of the war and advocacy with U.S and international political representatives on behalf of the Ukrainian people.

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